Thursday, March 27, 2014

Spreadsheet Fun: Looking At The Leagues Best and Worst Shooters

Looking at a team's or player's shooting percentage tells you a lot, but not what most may think. As much as one's skill can influence their S%, luck can influence it greatly in a short sample size, so its hard to judge players with little experience by this stat. Looking at shooting percentage also factors in goal-tending numbers, complicating things further and adding even more luck into the equation. There are only so many goals in a season, but there are a lot of shots, allowing us to use those to get better data. Because any shot on goal could end up as a goal, it allows shots to be used to grade a shooter. We just have to look at the percentage of the player's or team's shots that actually hit the net. If a team has a pile of shot attempts, but doesn't hit the net, they won't do much good.

TEAM

G

S

SOG

SOFF

OnNet%

Edmonton Rush

134

740

562

178

75.95%

Calgary Roughnecks

154

781

578

203

74.01%

Toronto Rock

161

932

687

245

73.71%

Rochester Knighthawks

138

744

545

199

73.25%

Minnesota Swarm

118

851

623

228

73.21%

Vancouver Stealth

129

766

556

210

72.58%

Buffalo Bandits

133

789

570

219

72.24%

Philadelphia Wings

143

906

651

255

71.85%

Colorado Mammoth

137

857

607

250

70.83%

The chart above shows OnNet% for each team, evaluated by dividing the number of shots on goal by the team's total shots. It isn't very surprising to see Edmonton at the top of the list, as they have been a the top of the standings all year. The only real outlier is the Buffalo Bandits, who have been the teams luckiest team this year, getting great goaltending from Anthony Cosmo.

The list below shows the OnNet% of 60 players who took the most shots as of March 24th.

NAME

G

S

SOG

SOFF

OnNet%

Scott Jones

5

49

42

7

85.71%

Robert Church

11

78

66

12

84.62%

Josh Sanderson

17

92

75

17

81.52%

Tracey Kelusky

19

91

73

18

80.22%

Kasey Beirnes

18

90

72

18

80.00%

Shawn Williams

9

65

52

13

80.00%

Aaron Wilson

6

39

31

8

79.49%

Cody Bremner

7

66

52

14

78.79%

Curtis Knight

22

98

77

21

78.57%

Jeff Shattler

24

124

97

27

78.23%

Curtis Dickson

29

136

106

30

77.94%

Brett Bucktooth

12

40

31

9

77.50%

Joe Walters

14

78

60

18

76.92%

Ryan Ward

12

94

72

22

76.60%

Logan Schuss

21

135

103

32

76.30%

Stephan Leblanc

30

172

131

41

76.16%

Joel McCready

12

46

35

11

76.09%

Adam Jones

25

100

76

24

76.00%

Rhys Duch

26

141

107

34

75.89%

Shayne Jackson

8

102

77

25

75.49%

Jarrett Davis

10

57

43

14

75.44%

Cory Conway

13

52

39

13

75.00%

Callum Crawford

17

135

101

34

74.81%

Tyler Digby

18

101

75

26

74.26%

Johnny Powless

13

92

68

24

73.91%

Drew Westervelt

24

126

93

33

73.81%

Kiel Matisz

15

91

67

24

73.63%

Garrett Thul

13

87

64

23

73.56%

Stephen Keogh

21

102

75

27

73.53%

Dane Dobbie

35

151

111

40

73.51%

Geoff Snider

12

41

30

11

73.17%

Kyle Buchanan

18

107

78

29

72.90%

Kevin Ross

6

51

37

14

72.55%

Mark Matthews

20

156

113

43

72.44%

Cory Vitarelli

12

64

46

18

71.88%

Casey Powell

8

59

42

17

71.19%

Daryl Veltman

13

77

54

23

70.13%

Zack Greer

18

120

84

36

70.00%

John Tavares

19

100

70

30

70.00%

Dhane Smith

13

106

74

32

69.81%

Colin Doyle

25

144

100

44

69.44%

Garrett Billings

29

189

131

58

69.31%

Cliff Smith

14

65

45

20

69.23%

John Grant Jr.

28

204

141

63

69.12%

Riley Loewen

11

55

38

17

69.09%

Sean Pollock

17

96

66

30

68.75%

Cody Jamieson

28

143

98

45

68.53%

Lewis Ratcliff

15

127

87

40

68.50%

Joe Resetarits

16

92

63

29

68.48%

Kevin Crowley

25

177

121

56

68.36%

Rob Hellyer

20

120

82

38

68.33%

Ryan Benesch

16

115

78

37

67.83%

Shawn Evans

12

130

88

42

67.69%

Jordan MacIntosh

18

104

70

34

67.31%

Mark Steenhuis

23

121

81

40

66.94%

Pat Saunders

15

92

61

31

66.30%

Josh Gillam

7

77

51

26

66.23%

Jordan Hall

24

104

67

37

64.42%

Joel Dalgarno

8

59

38

21

64.41%

The players near the top of the list have the best chance at hitting the net with a shot. This can come from skill and positioning. Curtis Knight is going to hit the net more than Jordan Hall or Mark Steenhuis because he is at the side of the net more often than not. This is by no means a miracle stat, but adds more to the picture when analyzing players.

When is comes to teams, those on the lower end of the chart should work the ball to better areas of the floor to generate more goal opportunities.